>> good morning. this hearing has come to order. on the one hand, it is nice to my senator carper acting as ranking member. senator mccaskill's husband is in the icu.

senator mccaskill is with him in missouri. we want to send her thoughts and prayers. , he had amentioned massive heart attack, i think it was an internal did did you later that may have say -- defibrilator that may have saved his life. keep them in our thoughts. >> i want to thank our witnesses, not only for being testimony, but for the last two and a half months. i have been to fema's response center. i have talked to the men and women working with you. doing an extraordinary job, working 12 hour shifts for

weeks, months on end. this has been unprecedented. withing in late august harvey, then irma and maria, we have not seen anything like this. i think it is heartening, really. after katrina, the lessons put into place to great effect. have hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude, you can't just snap your fingers and make it well again. this is going to be a recovery effort that goes on for years. recovery effort has been extraordinary. i think the men and women that work with you in your agencies in termse commended, of your management of them also needs to be commended. this committee thinks you as

well. this will be first in a series .f hearings from my standpoint it started with the high risk hearing, when i asked general roth to take a -- inspector general roth to take a look at fema spending, what kind of controls and inspector general roth a number quickly, made of recommendations, which we have turned into a draft legislation, working with senator mccaskill. we have been talking to appropriators, and how to marry that with the emergency funding requests that were passing here. we are spending a lot of money, it needs to be controlled. the issue with white fish is exhibit a, how careful we need to be in terms of how we spend

taxpayer's hard marriage -- the earned money.ene we need to lay out fema's proper role in the emergency management response. it is a subordinate role. if we can put up the chart. everyone has this as well. this is a history put together by the heritage foundation. femaows the history of declarations of emergencies. back in the 1950's, there were between seven and 18 a year. disasters, fema declarations. there are a number of reasons for that. certainly, we continue to build. we continue to build and rebuild

in flood zones. property values are increasing dramatically. , often states are looking to the federal government to do what i believe was more suited toward state and local response. it puts a great deal of stress on federal disaster resources and fema. director long, you have felt that pressure over the last couple of days. i think it is important to look at what is the popper -- the proper balance between state and local response and the federal response. as much as we can rely on the preparation,s of standing up those emergency centers responsible for these -- before these disasters occur, i want to make sure we are talking about that. i did go to puerto rico.

and a half weeks afterwards. my initial response, having flown over a quarter to a third of the island, i was first relieved the property damage was not as extensive as i was expecting it to be. i have seen pictures of st. maarten. stats, courts have been opened, 70% of gas stations and grocery stores opened. a third of the roads were opened. clear,lew over, 90% were but blocked in certain chokepoints. cell phone companies responded appropriately. burden, fixedthe each other's towers. it will be interesting to see what percent of cell phone service is back and operational. two municipalities were

accessible by road. logistics problems was being eased. the biggest problem was 12% of the electrical power had been brought back online. i returned, convinced, and i continue to be convinced, the primary problem in puerto rico, the power grid. it was weak and fragile before the hurricane, now it is off-line. it is a complex problem. be spending an awful lot of money. that has got to be controlled. what money we spend hopefully can be spent in a manner that we create a more resilient power grid that will power a vibrant economy for generations to come. i have been in contact with the chairman of the financial oversight management board. i just received an email, a text from him last night.

they met. boardl oversight unanimously has asked for a cheap transportation officer to take over the administration authority to reestablish power as quickly as possible. we must ensure more costs. -- lower costs. we have to depoliticize the authority and attract private capital. puerto rico does not want to return to d.c. with hat in hand in the future. that was signed by the chairman of the oversight board. we have real problem with the governance of, the public ownership of prepa. that was exhibit a, which has been pulled back with white fish. i want to thank the witnesses.

i will turn it over to senator carper. carper: i'm delighted to hear this is not the last but the first of several. i want to express our thanks to those at the table before us, those who work with you and for you. i believe in the last 100 years we have had a total of 33 category five hurricanes that have struck the united states. weekd literally 2 within a -- weeks of each other. list,is a high risk things that we need to focus on. if we did, we could save some money. of our high risks is the incidence of extreme weather and the confidence -- cost it is

putting on the federal government. we need to keep that in mind. i'm delighted to hear the chairman mentioned the electric grid in puerto rico. i often times quote albert einstein. in adversity lies opportunity. there is also opportunity. most people as i understand, hosted when he was governor, just as a family vacation. i have been around the island a fair amount. most of the power is generated in the south of the island. most people live in the north of the island. most of the power is generated from diesel power. it is dirty. the cost of electricity is twice what we pay here in the mainland . they have an opportunity.

i talked with the governor yesterday. he was basically a teenager. vision.d about his it would be to move power generation for the south to the north where the people are, to transmit that electricity from one side of the island to the other, to use natural gas and bring down the cost. right now diesel fuel comes from mostly south america including venezuela. we are not sure that is a good place to be dependent on. the ability to have large ships to come in, to have power generation there, his goal in time is to step up, increase dependence on generation of electrician -- electricity from renewables, solar and wind, things like fuel cell power

generators for electricity to help hospitals and places like that. my prepared back to comments if i could. i am proud of our national guard. we have had units to floyd to texas, florida, the u.s. virgin islands. nationaleat for to the guard as part of this team effort. i hope in the future we can have the governors of taxes, the governors of florida, puerto rico before us we can hear their perspectives on what worked well, what did not how we can be more help full, and include mayors. sometimes we don't always want to hear from people who were going to be critical that we need to hear folks that are critical.

make it perfect, better. if we can hear from governors and some other leaders, that would be helpful. we are at the beginning of a difficult rebuilding effort brought by these hurricanes. it may exceed 300 alien dollars. more than double -- $300 billion. we must ensure the federal government is meeting the needs of theservivors disasters and ensure funds are being used efficiently and effectively. every dollar of waste will be a dollar that cannot help other americans in need. already heard about risk management contracts. shocked whenere $300 million contract to repair the electric did was awarded by the puerto rico electric power

company with two full-time employees existed. contract.getting a heaven help us. that is unbelievable. cannot overstate the need for ensure thepment to availability of safe and clean drinking water for all citizens of the united states. we talked about the electric generation. i won't go into that for -- further. i hope that it's going to come together. i would love to be a part of that with her. they have a fair amount of jurisdiction. finally, i understand the, the time under which people can apply for individual assistance has been extended to march?

i think i heard something. yeah. if you address that when you speak to that, that would be great. deadline tod the march. we will be happy to hear of that. chairman, i just want to say a few words about the obligations our federal government has to rebuild when disasters strike any part of our country. dangerous,, it is often far more powerful than we imagine it would be. it is hard to imagine. i have flown into monsoons in the pacific ocean, got run over by katrina with boy scouts on a sailboat coming down the coast of florida during that storm. had a little bit a taste of this stuff, it is scary as can be.

fears haveple whose become -- reality has become a nightmare -- the residents of puerto rico, they must do their part. our federal government has a moral obligation to help as well. the folks at home depot like to say, you can do it, we can help. thanks so much. >> i would like my full opening statement into the record. mr. long: if i could make -- sen. carper: if i could make a similar request. sen. johnson: if you will rise and raise your right hand. do you swear the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, so help you god? please be seated.

our first witness is mr. brock long i'm of the federal emergency management administration -- agency. know how longn't you are on the job before harvey hit, but i want to thank you for your extraordinary service over the last two and a half months. mr. long: before i get started, i would like to say my thoughts and prayers are with ranking member mccaskill and her husband. carper, distinguished members of this committee, it is a pleasure to be here today. here to discuss anything you would like regarding the response efforts my staff has helped coordinate when it comes to all of the agencies that have been involved. i work withave seen people who are truly dedicated,

that want to save lives, and help people, get on the pathway to recovery and become more resilient. i have been in office 132 days. we have been actively responding to harvey, irma, maria and the california wildfires as well. each one of these events that i spoke of the truly be catastrophic events, standalone events, but they happened in rapid succession, a 25 day period. itregards to this, i think is important to point out before harvey heads, fema was responding to 30 different disasters in many states that you folks represent. not only in addition to those major declarations, we were responding to 50 different fire management assistance grants due to the wildfires taking place. while there many improvements to be made to ensure whole

community response, i do recommend that is the head of florida,n it comes to texas, the virgin islands, puerto rico, i want to put a forle of things in context this most recent response. if you start with harvey to the california wildfires, 25 million americans have been impact. that is 12% of the population. the fema search and rescue teams saved 9000 lines, in addition to our dod partners, coast guard partners, first responders to my neighbors helping neighbors like the cajun navy coming to houston , tens of thousands of lives have been saved. for now have million americans have been registered in the fema assistance program. that is greater than hurricane katrina, sandy, wilma, reda

combined -- rita combined. we can't make you whole, but we can serve as a catalyst to help you recover. point $3 billion was expedited. that will grow to 16-17,000,000,000 dollars for hurricane harvey and irma alone. onset, we have worked with the red cross, to shelter 1.1 million americans. the p population was 200,000. that is unprecedented. -- the peak population was 200,000. unprecedented.sident and di

while there is existing response and recovery challenge that need to be solved, chairman johnson, in regards to your opening comments, and optimal response and recovery process should be federally supported, state managed, locally executed. define to continue to what the responsibilities are, what they target capabilities should be. were hit byco, they two major hurricanes in rapid succession, which created a diminished capacity. the ability to respond was compromised. that puts fema as the primary responder am of the first responder, which is never a good situation. -- we are never going to move as fast as anybody would like. i recognize that. we continue to work to restore the power particularly in puerto

rico. it is going to require partners at the army corps working hand in glove with the governor who i talked to on a regular basis. we have to restore hospitals and medical facilities to normal functions. each one of the missions is going to be unique. we are working to rectify those issues every day. ofaring roads, getting rid debris is also a major mission. ofre's 3.5 cubic yards debris in puerto rico alone. and cell service, we are up to 85% along puerto rico. the water systems are back up to 80%. progress is being made but we have a long way to go. i have not had a chance to catch my breath amid do an after action review of the things that just happened among

but i do have several ideas. i think as a community, we have to streamline does after recovery problems that are offered. we've got to simplify them, make them easy to understand, help stay and local partners understand when to use these things. i will be asking for your help to do that. we have to work with the private industry to make sure that as we become more and more attached to our cell phones, the systems being implemented are resilient and redundant. we have to do more free disaster litigation. ensure say and local governments like texas and florida have their own licensed capabilities and the federal government is not shouldering the entire burden. we have to find ways to help citizens be properly insured. insurance is the first line of defense.

those who are insured will recover quicker and those who do not have insurance. states haveake sure their own baseline capabilities to handle public assistance when federal disaster declarations are not coming to town. to fix the inwork program.am --nfip i honored to be here to answer your questions today. witness, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense integration , in this role he is responsible of -- coordination. >> thank you. distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the department of defense support of the federal response to hurricanes harvey, irma, maria.

defense is at of fully committed and critical partner in the national response system. dod has a long tradition of anding with federal, state, local partners responding to domestic disasters in emergency. led by fema and administrator supportng, we federal partners and apartments such as health and human services, department of transportation, and department of energy in their role as emergency support function leads. dod is well prepared and has capabilities ready to act livesately to sustain in disasters. we have a high level of preparedness, enhancing integrated planning, improving training, conducting joint exercises between our federal,

state and local partners. in advance of each of these hurricanes, the secretary of providedirected dod to support to live sustaining operations. based on this direction, dod postured significant capabilities. teams, and medical logistics. texasist the citizens of florida, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. to date the department of defense has responded to three hundred 11 mission assignments from fema and our other federal partners. using the total force and its response, thousands of active and reserve and guard have responded to these hurricanes.

under the command of general robinson, federal forces conducted search and rescue, evacuation operation, provided damage assessment, surveyed and made repairs to open airports and seaports. critical roadways transported life-sustaining commodities of food and water, provided fuel distribution, conducted assessments of civilian hospitals, and provided medical support to include it back to the continental united states. u.s. trends, has flown 2800 flights over the last 60 days in support of these operations. with 1900 flights in support of puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. transporting urgent first the disaster medical teams, relief supplies and equipment, and evacuating

hundreds of residents and patients. hasdefense logistics agency provided millions of gallons of 850, 50 generator, -- over generators, and millions of liters of water and life saving sustaining a modded these. the u.s. army corps of engineers surveys, maritime port along with the u.s. coast guard, installed temporary roofs to enable people to stay in their to criticalde power facilities including hospitals, fire stations, and other municipal buildings. to work to restore puerto rico's electric grid, and its pre-storm status. our military services at the insulation level also provided

critical transportation, logistics, to local officials and their communities under immediate response authority, and thousands of army and air national guard personnel working with respect to governors -- , conductedgovernors search and rescue, evacuation commodities distribution, and other critical support operations. men and women of the defense department when military and civilian, were ready and acted with urgency in responding to harvey, irma, and maria. chairman johnson, distinguished members of the committee, thank you. i look forward to your questions. sen. johnson: our next witness, donald jackson. the demand in general -- deputy commanding general for the u.s.

army corps of engineers. general jackson. my name iskson: major general at jacksojackson. thank you for the opportunity to testify today. as the leadema federal agency for emergencies, public works, and engineering. roofing,es temporary debris management, infrastructure assessment, facility restoration, and temporary housing. we prepare for disasters training with local and state workers.

. we repair damaged authorize federal projects and work with state municipalities to restore flood infrastructure to pre-storm conditions. when disasters occur, teens are mobilized across command to assist with the response to the event. the core has more than 50 specially trained teams that provide public works that i just described. temporary roofing and operations and support of multiple events including hurricanes harvey, irma, and maria. fema directed mission assignments to assist in risk of re--- to assist in recovery. corps continues to support the state of texas. continue providing state and local municipalities with debris assistance, to

monitor debris removal, and 15 counties. orps has personnel deployed. this includes 250 assessments, installations. under fema authority we are assisting puerto rico with critical nonfederal generators across the island. completedhas temporary roofing installations and puertocaribbean rico. roofing requirements have been extensive, requiring additional

material and support which slowed progress. we have adjusted and are seeing daily improvements in both locations. they continue to provide oversight to five regions. the core is working to remove and puerto rico. the core will work with u.s. coast guard, and local .uthorities the core worked closely with officials in texas and florida areas.ge local flood inspected 17 dams and worked closely with the puerto rico electric authority. the teams cleared existing

conduits and replaced emergency pumps to reduce water levels, per store flow to a critical treatment plant that supports the needs of 30,000 people. the corps was given a mission assignment to assist the puerto rico electric power authority conducting emergency repairs to the power grid itself. the core is partnering in this will provides technical assistance. within two weeks, the corps [indiscernible] complete the mission as quickly as possible. we remain ready and poised to

assist any future events as they may occur. this concludes my testimony. 5 thank you. thank you. witness, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response for health and human services. sending teams of the medical professionals to affected areas. >> thank you very much. it is a privilege to appear before you. as director long identified, a series of category 4 and five hurricanes that hit the u.s. and partners that dhs have pushed many organizational and historical boundaries to save lives and support communities impacted by these storms. in puertoed regions rico and the virgin islands,

people are facing dire conditions. the devastation firsthand. hhs continues our response at 110% effort and will work as hard as we can until conditions improve. since this is my first time with aing, i will begin brief description of this position. it was created in response to hurricane katrina. its objective was to create unity of command, consolidating public health and medical preparedness response functions under one person. the mission is to save lives and protect america from health security threats.

it includes federal partners that are seated at this a dais. threats facing our country are more diverse and more lethal. my main objective is to prove capabilities for the 21st through key priority efforts. it is more resilient and capable . sustained public health security capabilities that reside at the state and local level, the backbone of any response to any future circumstance. lastly, countermeasure enterprise. created unique challenges, especially in puerto rico where no life was untouched. i was overwhelmed by the

resilience of our fellow citizens of making do in the next short nearly different -- difficult situations. response strategy for health emergencies have been threefold. through the deployment of disaster medical assistant teams. i met with your fellow citizens from your states during my trips to florida, texas and puerto rico. folks from oklahoma, wisconsin, delaware and new hampshire were aiding their fellow citizens firsthand. secondly, to stabilize the health care system, ensuring a very important activity such as uninterrupted fuel supplies, could be delivered to not only the hospitals that dialysis clinics to ensure these systems stayed in place. lastly, to restore health care

services that need to be recovered to predisaster levels. in puerto rico we are still responding. in other areas, recovery is underway. deployed medical personnel from 21 states and hundreds of u.s. employees including army corps personnel. they were ready to respond immediately once the storm passed. we have cared for 22,000 patients, 12,400 in puerto rico alone. i am happy to answer any questions you may have. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i would like to start with administrator long. , the dangers on

when fema is in charge of first responding. when you are no longer subordinate but leading the effort. how it isscribe supposed to work and why that is a problem? 5 if you look -- mr. long: the stafford act is designed to support stay and local efforts. when a local governments capacity has been exceeded they call upon mutual aid first to see if they can mitigate the disaster in response. if that is not an option or not working, or the capacity has further been expanded, they will call upon the state. the state will try to rectify as much as they can of the disaster , and once that has been exhausted or the state recognizes it is beyond their capacity they call upon the federal government, and we begin

to mobilize. you have seen the system in the community work. the successful model was in texas, florida, and now in california. is the most part it operating as it should. tot we have to do in regards puerto rico, virgin islands, other territories, to ensure they have management infrastructure in place at the stay and local level, and we can make sure that we have survivable communications. anytime we lose communications and blackout like in puerto rico it is hard to obtain situational awareness and fully understand what the true needs are. sen. johnson: you have been on but who is 132 days, keeping track? you have been involved in disaster response for many years. has there been a shift? have we created moral hazard?

is there a growing reliance on the federal government being the first responder as opposed to being subordinate? 5 that is a great question. that would be in pockets. the some states are very capable. some states, maybe we need to take a look at which states have rainy day funds and mechanisms to implement their own public assistance programs when federal disaster assistance is not coming. states,elieve that many several states have their own life-savingun combat -- capabilities. other states have not address those issues. i think we do have to go back and reestablish with our state and local partners what is the baseline effort that should he there? and put forward those capabilities to make sure we are prepared.

one of the things i want to do is develop state integration teams. move beyond regional offices and put full-time staff with state agencies to make sure we are truly doing real planning on a daily basis and fema is a part of the conversation so we understand how to support all governors when called upon directly. sen. johnson: that might be a good action item now. to do a state-by-state assessment in terms of emergency management. we will note that. rico,y, as i love puerto to me it was all about power, power, power. , a crisis.disaster it will grow if we do not establish power. where are we at? what are the prospects of reestablishing power?

what do we have to do? we assign the army corps of engineers, it was the right thing to do because of the diminished capacity on the island. are mobilizing under emergency authorities to rebuild to u.s. code standards. the discussion that needs to be taken after that, how do we build a power grid that is resilient. typically, we have to do is restore to a condition but that is not the way i would recommend this country to go. we doubt want to be back in this situation again after having this disaster and opportunity to change it. i will turn it over to general johnson. general johnson: the grid today percent restored based on

the basic loads it had before the storm. there is incremental progress being made. the activities have been done by prepa. the corps of engineers has done a few things to get personnel on the ground. generator within the last week that helped stabilize the grid in the greater san one area and added 40 megawatts to the system, which has been helpful. we are this in a number of different ways. the corps authorities of engineers has much improved emergency power, generator installations. we will come into an affected area and install the generators, then tend -- then take them out. it is usually handled by the local public utility and augmented by other capabilities outside of the state.

chose not to activate the normal arrangements that are used by public utility association. fema turned to the corps of engineers to help with the grid restoration. based upon the emergencies are created. what we have done up to this point is continue our temporary generator installation mission. we are almost at 400 separate generators at this point. sizes range from 40 kilowatt to 1.5 megawatts. those get installed at critical facilities prioritized by fema and the commonwealth. treatment,wastewater communications platforms, schools. aswill continue to do that the great continues to come together. we worked with prepa.

we got this mission assignment on the 30th of september. we have been doing emergency temporary towers since our may hit on the sixth of september. we had increased capabilities to do more. contract to the 50 mega life generator to stabilize the load in san juan. since the 30th of september we prepa.rked reppo -- that has been an arduous effort. prepa didn't have a good understanding of what they had. place to go from place to to count. we have placed things on order and worked hard to get the material moving to puerto rico.

we also went through the process of awarding contracts. we are unable to enter into the mutual assistance agreements like the public utility good. -- could. it is similar to our temporary emergency contracts. they can be awarded right away. for the contracts we have awarded, we are that you go through a competition process. and we haventracts done that. we have 150 contracts on the ground aside from the employees dedicated to the power mission on the ground today. those numbers will rise up another 500. by november we should have a thousand people on the ground. we are moving fast. we need to continue the support

of prepa. we 30% by the end of october. we are thankful in part to the hard work prepa is doing. that is the goal we are shooting for now. sen. johnson: be mindful of time. sen. carper: thank you for your testimony. , mr. long, is a graduate. you went to undergraduate and graduate school there. the mountaineers are proud of you. i recall meeting your wife and children at your confirmation hearing. to your family, the families of represent, interview , i juste army corps

want to convey our thanks to them for the support they are providing for loved ones they have to help in dire straits. i want to stay with the issue of energy. the governor talked about how to provide job creation and preservation. energy is part of that. they don't have affordable energy in puerto rico. earlier, in adversity lies opportunity. my conversation with the governor yesterday, we talked about the situation they have now. the power is in the south, most people live in the north. the electric grid is badly damaged. they still have this reliance on oil from south america. when i look around the world, andof the smart energy

programs involves natural gas where it is cheap, and renewables. -- bring up the natural gas and provide electricity and a cleaner way than diesel or fossil fuels. , the governor said to me yesterday, he wants to increase the dependence on renewable forms of energy to 30%. that is his goal. i embrace his goal. how can we make this happen? mr. long: my authorities are limited to the stafford act. one of the issues we are coming -- wes, recognize recognized image of the infrastructure in puerto rico,

over 40 years average age. there is a big discrepancy. is we are running into deferred maintenance issues. if you put that aside, what i have the authority to do is basically to get power back up and running to prevent further loss of life. building more energy-efficient -- sen. carper: and more resilient. mr. long: definitely more resilient. that is probably what is needed. the authority for me to spend taxpayer dollars, i'm not sure that i have. that is something i would ask this committee to take a look at. sen. carper: general? what's everything you said was right. i rarely say

everything right. >> most of the population is on the north. the north-south transmission lines are critical. half of the power plants on puerto rico are also fuel. the department of energy has taken a hard look at that. what they have on the island now produces 5200 megawatts of power. they use half of that. addressingom for less power plants, more efficient that reduce the right amount of power to service the .equirement that exists today the department of energy has been looking at that. they had been working closely with prepa to understand. type, how much load do they

need, how much redundancy do they need in a system? how do they balance that load across the man's in the system -- demands in the system? i know that they are working up as part of a fema report that we have recommendations on the long-term solution might be for power and other things. do you we is looking at that. -- doe is looking at that. what is also looking at the right way ahead for the future of puerto rico so they can make those informed recommendations to the leadership? sen. carper: they have some really smart guys on the ground. i would like to be able to reach withith them and talk

them. for the record we would like to ask you to provide those guys to contact them. heavy made an estimate to the total cost to rebuild? how far along are you in the process for florida, texas, puerto rico, the virgin islands? when you expect those complete assessments to be ready? we're expecting a third appropriations bill. >> i want to thank the senate and house floor responding quickly to every request for emergency supplementals. my guys have been working around the clock to make sure you guys stay informed of when we're running out of disaster relief funds. we have asked for three

supplementals if i were member correctly this year alone. in regards to where the virgin islands are, each one of these .tates is in different stages each is going to be a tremendous, long recovery. for example, texas and florida housing,ed on recovery making sure we provide people with a proper place to stay as rebuilding begins. and debris removal. california is in the same boat as well. stillare sensitivities. rainfall, when you have burned off of the vegetation, making sure we mitigate against watershed issues that come into play as

well. everybody is in different stages. long-term recovery is going to be long. my guys will be in touch with your staff members to make sure that we do not fumbled the ball and we will do our best to do our best with taxpayer dollars. >> senator, i will only comment on the power grid for puerto rico. we are still assessing the damage. we got initial reports from prepa when we were given the assignment, and we found the damages were not as great as they had originally reported. we have to put people on lines and make sure that just because

the line is not laying on the ground does not mean it is not operable. as we do the repairs for the next several weeks, we will be able to put together a much better assessment of what the overall cost to prepare a great to the standard we are seeking under the stafford act in very short order. senator carper: i will ask for the same question. >> i appreciate the number of members. upill bump the questioning to seven minutes, and i want members and witnesses tuesday within that. senator tester. senator tester: will do. i appreciate this document a lot. this is an instructive piece of information, and it is instructive because what it tells me is that we are going to continue down this road until we start looking at root causes. i know we never want to accept

the fact because it is a bit uncomfortable, what we do with the changing climate, but when towns evacuated in montana in the middle october due to the wildfire, we have major things towns evacuated in other nature is telling us, and if we do not do it, we are not doing our fiduciary responsibility. , want to start out by saying brock long, i think you are doing a great job. you came in under difficult circumstances, and have been getting pounded, and pounded, and you have put your shoulder to the wheel and work as hard as you could in a troubled situation. i want to express my appreciation. you talked about 3.5 cubic yards -- was that million cubic yards? mr. long: it may be off. that may be an older number. the numbers have changed. senator tester: you talked about

predisaster mitigation. $1 saves for box on the backside. i do not think we are spending enough on mitigation. i think your testimony implies that. do you have any ideas what we need to do to address this issue? absolutely. the problem the way the system is established is you have to get hit to have an extreme there -- extraordinary amount of grant funding. that is not the right way of doing business. i believe specifically section 404 in the stafford act dictates money how money is provided for mitigation purposes. -- it would be amazing if we could work with the senate and this committee to work that to the front side to offer up -- on average we put out 708 million dollars in

post-disaster mitigation. why are we not doing that on the front side and get it out of recovery, reduce complexities of recovery, and put it up front? rightot know what the mixes, what the right amount of money to make a dent in it is, but it has to be money up front, but i believe the key to resiliency is held at the local level of government with elected officials. smart land use planning. building codes. making sure are redundant systems in place. so it is going to have to be a whole community effort on the predisaster side, what if we for for funding to the front side of disasters, and it will not be an easy move, it makes perfect sense and we can all agree that that is what needs to be done. senator tester: that is good, and if you have any language that you could forward to this committee and the subcommittee on homeland security, i would certainly appreciate that. mr. long: absolutely.

senator tester: because it is a no-brain or. said general jackson, you you were assessing the grid in puerto rico. are you about done with that? i will ask the question, and you can tell me the answer. 100%?shot, 95% shot, where is it that? to start over, rebuild? general jackson: the answer to that is, no, it is not child. the initial report we had was 10% of damage. the initial reports said 80% of the transmission lines were shot. 2400 miles of high-voltage -- senator tester: what do you think it is now? general jackson: i mean, literally, part of it is -- let me start by saying as i flew over puerto rico a couple weeks

ago, there are a lot of lines that are up visibly, a lot of lines that are down visibly. the problem is until you get folks on the ground to see if those lines in the component that make up the line system are operable, you do not know if the lines are -- we are not doing a full assessment and waiting to do repairs. we already know where we need to go, what we did to focus on. senator tester: what i'm trying get to is this -- this is since it puerto rico were horrible before the storms hit. are we fixing a horrible distribution system? general jackson: under the stafford act, we are fixing the system to get her out -- senator tester: so the next hurricane that hits, we are back in the same boat? general jackson: a category 4 or

lines over, if it is the ground, they will be destroyed. senator tester: is there any effort to talk about generating on so distribution is not needed, and i'm talking about conventional generation. general jackson: my understanding is, the governor has an interest in locating the power generation closely to the population densities they support. it would obviate the need for these long transmission lines across the island. doe has taken a look at that to put together ideas for the leadership. senator tester: i do not know if you do this or mr. -- does this, but are you looking at every option, not only carbon-based, but also solar and wind and geothermal? general jackson: my

understanding is doe is looking at what the most efficient modern appropriate system would be for puerto rico to make those recommendations. senator tester: do you know anything about prepa? nobody? here is what i want to know about. it is a nine-member board that i should be tickled pink that they gave a contract to a company in montana, but if you look at the situation, two people, and in business two years, never done disaster working for. -- before. what kind of people are on this board? no big contracts. i got to tell you something, if it was any of you guys, if it was you, brock, i would not have started out by saying you are doing a great job. what is understand going on and do not understand what the accountability is. we have a federal financial oversight board -- they be they are not doing their job, but

somebody is not doing their job. would you agree? i season heads nod. heads nod.me senator johnson: there is a governance issue. no doubt about it. senator peters. senator peters: we may be seeing a lot more of these disasters, bigger, stronger, increased frequency. it is important we take lessons learned and understand we are going to have to apply them going forward. mr. long, my time is short today, but i wanted to alert you i sent a letter to you yesterday. in that letter i asked a series of detailed questions about fema's response to maria and humanitarian crisis in puerto

rico. i will not go into those details. the letter is going to you. i hope i had your commitment for a quick response because the select committee will have hearings. if i could have that letter entered into the record. we will respond -- mr. long: we will respond very quickly. and as many of my concerns are, the concern in puerto rico is we have sustainability built into any kind of response. i know the stafford act prevents that from happening and the fact it talks about limiting regaling to the way it was in place when the disaster occurred. you alluded to that as well. do you think it is time for us to look at the stafford act? would you recommend we look at that if that makes sense given the situation we're in now, and what likely will be future situations, given climate change? mr. long: i work with my staff

every day, and there are definite changes we could consider, but i would like to take the time to methodically go through those and submit those if there are recommendations, not only for my staff at fema, but the emergency management community as well. i am all for reviewing and bettering process. there are opportunities to go through this, but rebuilding a great to the level we are discussing is not within my authority, and i'm concerned about the deferred maintenance issues already when it comes to restoring and conducting permanent work as it is. senator peters: i appreciate working with you on that. as we talked about, some of those disasters that may not be in the stafford act, which is a michigan we had in flint, michigan. there are a lot of lessons to be learned from that that means we need to take a look at the stafford act make sure americans get the help they need when disaster strikes their community. leads to mythat

next question which is the long-term nature of the disasters, especially from my that aide in flint, is is available when tv cameras are running. there is quite a bit of a once media attention is there. the challenges when the cameras stop covering the event and these folks have deal with these disasters for many years in the future. my question is, how long do you expect fema to weep working in the areas affected by these hurricanes, and you have the capacity to handle that workload which is going to be over the next decade or more? >> no doubt about it, when it comes to recovery staff, we are stressed. we are having to rob peter to pay paul, as you would say, from other disasters. right now we have roughly 26 open disasters we are working nationwide that do not get media coverage, so in some cases what we're trying to do is go to more

virtual models and hopefully states are calling upon state to state regional aid to enhancing their disasters and doing things more virtually. with regard to these recent four events, it is going to take many years to go through. in some cases when it goes back to your questions on the stafford act, have section 428 that allows us to move in a more expedited manner and in a more resilient manner, that we have to make decisions whether or not the program is working. it reduces the number of project worksheet we have to generate and allows us to do work more efficiently. i would like to continue going down that path but look at how do we get locals and state government also make sure that their funding for staff positions is adequate. when it comes to future grants, i would rather have grants to

hire and train proper staffing than to buy quitman, and there may be people who disagree, but you cannot replace human beings, and that is what we need when it comes to the large amount of disasters we are facing. senator peters: with these large disasters, it is hard to get a sense of what the cost will be, which is very large, and you have referred to the fact it is an ongoing process. with regard to the hurricanes, how do costs back up -- stack up? >> there are 2 1/2 million people in florida and texas. in harvey, we are still under a million. when you look at the impacts to housing, the amount of money it would cost to fix flood-based housing issues is going to be tremendously more expensive than what we may see in florida.

california is a whole mother -- -- i have never seen a more disturbing disaster in my life, and i think they lost 6800 homes in that. each one is tremendously different and the cost will vary based on what the services are. ardoverall cost, i have her we're probably spending $200 million a date responding to the four disasters we are facing. senator peters: in terms of hurricanes, what will be the most extensive for us, and the second-most? i have heard texas will be number one? -- i do: probably texas not know, i would take that back, because we're not them with puerto rico. we are still trying to uncover that. i would believe right now texas is probably the most expensive one but here again that is a pure guess, and we still have numbers coming in. with long-term

funding we have to have local government, state government engaged, and they need to make lands for long-term investments to recover and make sure they are sustainable, but it is difficult for them to do that without knowing the amount of money that is available, isn't it? mr. long: absolutely. here again, the money comes majority ofthe the funding from fema, is on the recovery end. the goes back to predisaster mitigation point. how do you plan to implement strategies when you have to get hit and you are not sure how much money you're going to come into based on the type of disaster? that is what i think we have to preplanned, put it up front so you could better visionary planning over the next couple years to truly mitigate your communities. senator peters: thank you. senator johnson: senator harris? thetor harris: i appreciate

administration speaking of california. the hearing is not about wildfires, but i would like to urge that we do everything we can to come as you appreciate, we lost 42 lives in california, and the estimate is that we lost homes and structures. from fema, you are doing a great job. the army corps of engineers. i was there, visited the homes . site, but with the families, and you're right, it is devastating to those families in that community. in terms of fema, there is still in need -- and i will put this on your radar for individual assistance to help cover up 10 -- temporary housing. you mentioned it is a big issue, and certainly in california with a formal housing, and fema does not have the number of trailers and they are not on the production line in a way we can get them to california as soon as they are needed, so there is still a need for temporary

housing, help, and basic essentials like clothing and baby formula. funding for permanent housing is a big issue. crop insurance from usda. need is the fdsba, we this is -- we need business loans for businesses which have been disturbed. -- theunt of mental environmental works committee sent a letter to the army of core of engineers and fema asking for information about a timeline and the work that has been completed or is yet to be done as a relates to debris. i would like to get an answer to that, and if we could get that within the next week, i would appreciate that. there are about seven specific questions. as you are aware and has been mentioned, there are millions of cubic feet of debris in puerto rico. it is my understanding that we are looking at debris that is large. toranges from rooftops

garage doors to refrigerators that people debris who live there cannot pick up and move. to thebeen a compromise landfills in puerto rico that existed before the hurricanes hit and remain a problem. that femanderstanding plans to remove the debris, but i am not clear on what the timeline is forgetting that complete. can you tell me? >> each one of the events is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to debris removal. the california wildfires, if i may use that as an example, because of the nature of the hazard, you first have to go through and make sure you remove all the hazardous materials from personal property. then obviously as you said, the number of deaths is projected to go up over 80 and that is because we are still searching

manner,ins in a humane taking sure we go through the debris to make sure we find remains in the burn the -- learning area. after that, the manner, taking sure we go through the debris to environmental he's is done, and we look for remains. a lot of the debris contracting is done at the local level. if those contracts fail, and the governor requests need specifically, we can assign the army corps of engineers, would you have been assigned to in california, some also to puerto rico. debris in florida was done differently. a majority of that was done at the local level by degree -- debris contracts that they have established rate each one of these may have different timelines because of the type of debris. senator harris: what is the timeline for puerto rico? exacto not have an timeline. we just started scratching the service on debris removal, and we have run into some theresting politics within

municipalities that make up puerto rico in terms of how they are allowing us to gain access. so we are in some and significant negotiations. many municipalities have said we do not want you to do it, we will take care of it ourselves, so we are going through that right now. i will respond to the letter you sent. senator harris: if you can follow up on this plan about what sure stations within puerto rico are hesitant to cooperate with your efforts, so that we can make sure that we do our part to figure out how to get some cooperation. general jackson: we would do that, senator. harris: my understanding is that the debris piles, that they are wet from recent rains. they are tracking pests that range from rodents to mosquitoes , and there is also concerned that the pets that are going there and rodents that are going there are leaving great amounts of urine, that is also seeping

into the waterways. can you talk about the health risks associated with this accumulating debris? dr. kladec: dr. kladec there are several issues. one is a certain type of debris, and then fungal growths that are creating exacerbations. you need to be concerned about certain fungal growths out there, with a compromise situation. the biggest concern is you have people rooting around debris piles, so there are lacerations, tissue injuries. and bacterial disease. the last one you mentioned, and i will mention, is leptospirosis, which is endemic to puerto rico. during the rainy season, there have been some cases that have been defined or declared, and a

couple of deaths suspected from that. it is a disease that is remedied by antibiotic therapy. about a week after the landfall of the hurricane, we were working with the state epidemiologist, and everything we do is supportive of the health department of puerto rico, making sure they have courses of treatment to treat to levels of leptospirosis and other bacterial infections. leptospirosis occurs in a couple hundred cases of year. we expect that to go higher than that is of the nature of the events. we provided several times -- thousands of courses of treatment for puerto rico. beyond those kinds of circumstances, you would be concerned about tetanus. we have made available tetanus vaccines through cdc and also to 24vailable environmental health departments

to work with epidemiologists to track not only these kind of environmental hazards, but also cases that would be associated with this. senator harris: i would like as a follow-up from each person peopleation from drinking water from superfund sites. it is a desperate situation, and there are huge health risks associated with that. your forangford: thank being here and giving us a chance to walk us through this. i want to go through this in a time.period of mr. long, this goes back to the preparation side of this. in flood insurance program, 2012, required a report every six months on how we're doing on the debt, what is happening, what process do we have to be able to work out of the flood insurance debt. the previous administrations top doing that report at the end of

last year. we do not have it for two years. it made it difficult coming into this year and dealing with flood issues when we do not have a report last two years. do you know when that is going to restart, and i understand trying to go with what is happening currently, it will be behind again, but you know where it is in the process? mr. long: i do not, but we will follow up with you. senator langford: you mentioned about trying to interact with private entities on flood insurance. do you have specific ideas about that? mr. long: the program is underneath my authority. i am not an insurance expert comes to fixing that. going into harvey, if i remember correctly, and this is give or take, a couple million here, we and $24 billion in debt, any time you have a massive event. katrina sent it into that,

harvey, irma will send it into further debt which you guys recognize. we have to fix the business framework and it has your car a solution from the private sector. i think the private sector should drive a lot of market. if we are going to continue to bad behavior by building in flood zones, then there needs to be an actuarial risk. i understand the afford ability issues, but i also believe we cannot continue to allow conducting business under the same framework and continue to go into that. i do not want to run a program that goes into that. i know we need private sector to support. let's work ourd: way through this. we need some help to be able to sit down and be able to figure this out. we have ideas that we are bringing to it for the practitioners. we got to deal with outside private sector insurance.

we do not want to create a situation where private sector create insurance policies and as soon as they have claims, they walk away from it. that does not help those individuals, the federal government. it have to be ways to establish backstops that will work long-term and provide affordability. i would like to make in the days ahead we will try to get ideas worked up and look at a long-term plan. that will not be a year to resolve. it will be a decade or more, but we got get started. with fema there has been interaction and i will not press you on this because we talked about it before. it is on in florida and in houston and puerto rico that if united weight facilities have devastation or a zoo or a museum, they can engage with fema for help, but if a mosque, the, or a church has been -- has devastation, they cannot. all of those are nonprofits. but houses of worship cannot engage in the same way. i feel like reading the law,

when congress said that nonprofits would be included, that is all nonprofits. and i will continue this conversation in the days ahead with you on that. it has been pushed back which is reasonable to be able to ask that question on it. general jackson, your family is doing good? general jackson: yes sir. senator langford: good to see you, sir. you mentioned a comment about half of the power generation in puerto rico is from wind and solar and half of that is from fossil fuels. did i hear that currently? general jackson: yes, senator. senator langford: what remains, what is working, what is redeemable of that? general jackson: i was surprised when i flew over the renewable sites, the solar and the wind, that the blades of the wind farms were snapped off, and the solar panels were all smashed. an actual powerplant that held up the best was a typical standard powerplant, the natural

gas or coal-fired or heavy diesel or what have you. the structures themselves held up better than the renewables did. send her delightful: i'm not -- senator langford: part of the conversation we have to have is to look at resiliency long-term. i want to be a will to look at all of those things as we go through the process and i will have a common conversation to be able to figure out how we get them back in place. no issking a question i unfair, so i will tell you upfront. we're all concerned about why puerto rico did not choose to do mutual aid for their power recovery reconstruction. in texas, they did it, florida did. other groups did. told why theybeen did not do that? you cannot tell me why. i am only asking, what have you been told why they did not ask ,or mutual aid, and, mr. long

you are also asked the question. general jackson? general jackson: they did outreach at some point for mutual aid, but because it is a cost-shared arrangement and puerto rico is in the financial situation they are in, that utility companies were hesitant to engage because there was no guarantee of cost-share payment. that changed when the cost-share arrangement was weighed, and timereengaged, by that prepa had already reached out and engage with the solar cell contract, and that is how that reagan was started. that is what i was told through multiple sources, i do not have authority -- senator langford: mr. long, is that the same thing? mr. long: general jackson is correct, and i agree with him. any companies are not willing to engage unless they are guaranteed 100%.

i spoke to the governor yesterday. they are going to reengage the process for power support. i think specifically they are having conversations with florida and new york, and the goal is that my federal officer has requested that prepa make sure that we are unified with the army corps so we're not working in separate streams, working together in a consolidated effort. senator langford: i have another question that is a process industry through -- process issue, so you are putting to the army corps of engineer's data contracts. what i would be interesting to know is the contracting process, which one takes longer, which one has greater cost? at times there is overlap. he has got debris removal. at what level are the able to hand what off? that will be coupled to know because those are federal dollars there.

we do not typically contract to rebuild power grids. we mission assigned the army corps of engineer who assigns the contracts directly to get the job done. scenario ising case the example of florida. florida power and light controlled their destiny when it comes to restoring their power grid and actual reading usual eight, and fema serves in a supportive role to reimburse those actions. senator langford: my question will be on all contracts, whether debris removal. when we hire individual contractors, who handles that more efficiently, how does that work, and which one takes longer? senator johnson: senator heitkamp. senator heitkamp: thank you to my colleague from new hampshire for letting me go first. i have a few questions about the navy ship comfort. and according to the department of defense, the comfort as one of the largest trauma facilities

in the united states. as anyquipped as well kind of hospital can be equipped. it is capable of treating 200 patients per day with 250 beds available. yet we hear over again that there are people going without medical treatment. despite that capability and the staff of over 800 train personnel, comfort has treated patients 17 100 days after arriving on october 3 and 30 days after hurricane array made landfall. how many patients have been treated on the comfort so far that you are familiar with, and can you elaborate the challenges we have had getting patients to the comfort? dr. kadlec: the last count was 121 as a result, but before you make a judgment on that, let me explain was the approach using the comfort as it related to its high acuity capabilities.

in sayingare correct 200 beds, but more importantly, there are 50 intensive care units on that vote. that was the capability we need to because quite frankly if you look at the events on the island , we have a level one trauma center, which was the east side of the island. senator heitkamp: how many patients treated aboard the comfort were i see you? -- icu? dr. kadlec: over 60, and we use that as an intensive care unit as the basis -- senator heitkamp: so it is your judgment the comfort has been fully utilized for the needed puerto rico? dr. kadlec: it covered a critical that we had which was based on hospitals would lose power as the majority of them, in fact, all of them were on a generator for a time, now they are 70% back on the grid but when the hospitals were on

generators and the risk of ferrier for we could put the backup generators, we used the comfort as a place where we patients, high-acute transport them by helicopter -- i get that,kamp: but anybody who looks at this, and maybe it is the news, and i will turn to you, administrator long, there is this huge mrs. -- medical needs, people going without treatment, people have risk of losing their life. we have this incredible asset. this is an island. it is not like the united states of america you might have something like 3000 miles away. why does it seem to be to me underutilized? mr. long: i present the question. i understand the frustrations the goal always anytime you move medical fragile people, patients, hospital, you take a risk of them surviving that moved to begin with. the goal is to stabilize the situation in the hospitals.

there was a tremendous effort to do that, because what we ran into was not only hospitals operating without power, making sure the generation worked on getting its fuel on a regular basis, and the maintenance of the generator. these generators are not designed to run for months. , and,tiated the comfort bob, you could talk about the timeline it takes to do that. it is an eight-the process even turn the keys on, get everybody staffed to mobilize and go to the island. it is a long process, but we basically set up a 911 system to where in two or three cases a hospital generator would fail, we would move the most medically fragile patients to the comfort. i would argue it was being utilized very well, and the goal

is trying to get the hospitals to operate. we are going to be second-guessed on everything, but try to get the hospitals to operate and serve patients. administratorkamp: long, i know senator tester hit on this, but one of the concerns i've have given what has now landed on your plate is all of our talk about mitigation, all our talk about preparedness, will take a backseat to just dealing with the disasters you have been handed. we know based on experiences with katrina, with sandy, this is not we are here for a month and then we leave. what are you going to do or what regulations would you make to us in terms of staffing so that you have the capability of actually looking at mitigation and not just dealing with? the crisis -- dealing with a crisis? staff,g: sure, and my coordination to federal departments, tens of thousands of people have been deployed. if you look at the number

deployed starting with harvey, it has been unprecedented. i feel like we are losing a lot beene successes that have implemented as a result of the post-katrina emergency management reform act. a lot of things went right, a lot of things went right. so that we do not lose puerto do and plan to after-action report to make sure we understand where we are versus where we need to become a specifically when it comes not only to puerto rico, but island territories. i want to hit the reset button. with regard to staff specifically, i would like to change the entire hiring process of fema to adopt a more fbi- style academy approach. i would like to expand my staff out of those offices to the states and islands to make sure we are part of the discussion every day. receive antkamp: you incredible amount of bipartisan support because we understand the role you played in katrina. he hope you will be equally critical of the work you have done as administrator, that you

will also collaborate with us in terms of what you need. i think senator tester said it best. you cannot look at this and understand this continues. and think we do not have a huge challenge where we need to look at all hands on deck, what are the requirements that we want to impose on states so that they understand what their role is going to be so they are not overly dependent on the federal government, that this work -- i look forward to additional conversations with you and understanding what you need, but we cannot give you what you need if you do not ask. mr. long: and we will be happy to put that ask together, and if i may, each citizen is responsible for their own individual preparedness. we do not have a true culture of preparedness in this country, and we need to hit the reset button and look at how we partner with the department of education and give people critical stills -- skills.

one in four of us will have to atform cpr to someone else any given time, according to the red cross. are we giving those people those boy scout type skills as well as tangible things to understand a may be the true first responder for an active shooter event or your neighbor's house has collapsed upon them. many times citizens are the first true responder, and we have to start dedicating our public awareness and cultural awareness campaigns to doing that as well as figuring out what the states need. senator heitkamp: i cannot agree with you more. thank you for your hard work and all of you working under difficult circumstances. we hope congress can be an effective partner for you. senator johnson: senator heitkamp, one of the actions i'm taking away from here is literally state by state, territory by territory assessment, who has prepared themselves, what is the current state so we can determine

something in mitigation. we will follow that up. the flood wasmp: a devastating event. we pulled our disaster plan, blew the dust off it, and realized we needed to take that process more seriously. nothing like a state disaster the caliber of this to realign all right thinking. senator johnson: we will work with you on that. senator hassan? thank you very much, mr. chairman and thank you for the work you do on behalf of our country. we're very grateful. i have three basic questions, i will try to move through them quick so we can get to all of them. administrator long, i wanted to thank you for being here today and also for breathing several senators -- briefing several centers on september 28 when you updated us on relief efforts. on this call is said airports and seaports were heavily damaged. at the road networks were in many cases impassible and that

you lacked trucks and personnel to the able to effectively distributes the relief supplies you had waiting on pallets. when did fema and the department of defense verse make the assessment that the damage to the airports and seaports would encumber the delivery every supplies? mr. long: almost immediately, and that was the complexity of being able to put forth the humanitarian mission. although sports were damaged. what was also the air traffic control systems that died those in. -- guide those in. senator hassan: when did you make the decision that you needed the military to distribute those things, and when did you ask defense for the type of assets that were invited? mr. long: i may defer here, but let me be clear. we engaged the department of defense before marie had. there were a ton of assets on the island before the storm hit.

you can only put so many people and equipment on an island or you exposed to the storm and it becomes useless after the fact. it is a balancing game, but if i may defer -- senator hassan: >> sure. senator hassan: make sure your macron is on please -- your microphone is on his. -- on first. >> we had dot assets in the area. senator hassan: i will interact. on the september 28 call, the theesentatives stated northern command was working on a plan to mobilize an additional sustainment forced the puerto rico. that is eight days after the hurricane hit. onording to fema's website, october 1, u.s. northern command delivered approximately 210,000 meals and water, generators,

sustainment units, and leading component of aviation command and control. given that it was apparent from fema and dod assessment that both airports and seaports of puerto rico heavily damaged and that this had caused immense distribution challenges, why did it take until october 1 to deliver aviation command and control, and why on said there were 28 was northern command still finalizing its plans, and went to this is same force arrived? >> there is concurrent activity always in these events. we had navy ships in the area. they have helicopters. they were doing search and rescue capabilities. simultaneously, u.s. trends,, responsible for strategic airlift, was providing planes and flying in assessment teams for airfields.

a number of those airfields had severe damage, no navigation aids, no radar, and data equipment had been put in place. this was happening before the 28th. i do not know where the impression got -- hassan: the impression came from the call on september 20. all of us are concerned that eight days after the hurricane hit it seemed like we were still having to suggest that the united states military was going to be necessary to help get some supplies to shoot it because of the impossibility of transportation infrastructure. i do because i have a couple minutes left want to move on to one of the questions to administrator long. last week protopic up posted a story that stated fema was the climbing to publicly release a

document drafted several years ago that detailed how fema would respond to a major hurricane in puerto rico. femading to pro public, started drafting the plans, known as the hurricane annex, after the lacks preparation in the wake of hurricane katrina. pro public the found similar plans on a website in hawaii that detailed a process restore electricity on in the event of a hurricane. why is fema not releasing this document to the public, and could you please commit to making a public, and if not, would you please articulate what was in the hurricane annex and what steps you followed in the aftermath of hurricane maria? mr. long: sure, senator. we gave it to the committee last night, apparently. i was unaware of the issue. thank you very much, and in that case, i will before yielding back the

remainder of my time let you all know that -- well, actually, we have a minute, so instead of giving this to the record, i did want to touch on the u.s. virgin islands and where we are in terms of power restoration and tourism because perhaps even more so than puerto rico, the u.s. region islands economy fundamentally depends on the --lity of the islands posts islands to host tourists. the rich and island suffered a direct hit from maria and irma as well. these storms knocked out the power across the islands in the islands cannot expect to begin to reestablish its tourism economy without the restoration of power. after more than a month, u.s. version islands report that less than 1/3 of the territory has power up and running. dod steps are fema and taking to restore power to the u.s. virgin islands, and what is lima's estimate of when -- fema's estimate when 100% of the

island will have power? >> the bottom line is they are in the same approach, but there to two different approaches restore power to the island. where we proactively pushed forward the army corps of engineers in puerto rico, the authority that represents the virgin islands is conducting their own contracts and leading their power restoration. if the last number i saw was that power should be restored by december timeframe as well, here again, that is an estimate. thank you for: your participation. i appreciate it very much. senator johnson: let me brief you on what i know about that report you have reference. the annex owned by fema and the state and puerto rico. it was not released because puerto rico did not give fema permission to share with me that -- with the media. we will be happy to share with

you the document, but until puerto rico agrees, it will not be released to the public. senator hassan: i will follow-up with you further. es: thank you for testifying today, and, mr. long, you again. i got to tell you, folks in eastern montana are very grateful with the fact that you listened to our please when we -- pleas when we had a devastating wildfire that took out much of garfield county. sometimes we see the criteria with dealing with a rural environment, which much of montana is, can be different when a disaster hits one of our urban centers, and i want to thank you for your responsiveness and for your action for the folks out in eastern montana. they appreciate it a lot.

we had a terrible wildfire season in montana this to past summer. past summer. secretary perdue list it the most expensive wildfires in the nation. billion over $2 fighting wildfires this season, and it is not over yet. the number one fire was in montana. the number for three fire was in montana in terms of dollars. one of those terrible seasons, and thank you, mr. long, for what you did in response to help us in montana. much of the discussion today has been on puerto rico and the and theing hurricane loss of the grid. mr. long, i was a bit surprised when i heard the story of the

small contractor of two people most have never heard of, including myself, being awarded a contract that is worth $300 million to rebuild puerto rico's power grid. in the contract, the power authority, prepa, claimed it met all the guidelines and regulations set forth by fema and it had been reviewed also by fema. would you explain fema's involvement in the contract process and how you monitor federal dollars before they are allocated? mr. long: let me be clear. the contract was not a fema contract. prepa entered into the contract in late september. there is no lawyer inside fema that would have agreed to that contract to begin with.

let me be clear about that. we raised red flag in saying we're not sure this is a sole source contract or competitive rate. there were many things wrong. there was language that would suggest the government would never audit whitefish, which is there never a lawyer in fema that would agree to that type of language. the bottom line is as i understand, not one dollar has gone towards that contract from fema, and what we are doing is rectifying to make sure that prepa has not requested any funding for that reimbursement effort. we have a lot of work to do when it comes to grant monitoring at all levels of government. it is not just fema, but it is in the state and local government when it comes to the guarantees that are there. we asked them to always follow predisaster bid laws and policies, because when you change the policies after a disaster, it will hang you up in an audit. he asked them to follow law when

it comes to the procurement process according to 2cfr. we have a lot of work to do when it comes to ensuring the grant monitoring, but in that case it was not our contract. : i will benes interested in learning about that situation and how we can improve that process. it is always one of the concerns when we have a disaster that we want to move quickly, people are tong, but we also want make sure we are accountable, efficient, and there is oftentimes opportunity for tremendous amount of waste in a situation where it is sometimes billions of dollars in these disasters. i will look forward to learn what you learn from that, mr. long. senator johnson: senator peters? senator peters:. mr. long, one of my constituents

volunteered to the afl-cio to provide assistance in puerto rico. he was there from october 4 two the 18th. and he said the citizens remarked how grateful they were for the assistance provided by his group because no one else seemed to be there, was at least his experience on the ground. i know a group of national nurses united had a similar experience and made some of the .ame comments to me it seems to be a common perception that assistance was not reaching the people in need in puerto rico, that there were distribution problems, that stuff may have gone to dish of roush and centers, but was not getting to the individuals. are wetion is, why hearing that from volunteers, and do you believe that was an issue? mr. long: i cannot speak to the constituents' director's chris, but i can explain the

logistics in terms of difficulties getting meals and water out. all the ports were damaged. it took this time not only to build the air traffic control system, open up the ports. foode-stage quite a of before the storm. much on thestay so island. we checked with the governor and the schools, the food they had, we tried to put as much food forward as possible before the storm hit. when it came to the diminished capacity, obviously the state and local governments, they were disaster survivors. as we begin to push in the food to the island, we had to quickly mobilize 10 regional distribution hubs where we would fly at then, set up and stage all the commodities, and forced the food and water to each one

of these distribution hubs. we had to centers communication at all 78 mayors because there were certain no survivable s coms that were there, making sure we got commodities to them turkey. if they cannot get it to the final mile, then we would drop it. there were isolation issues. i do not know how many isolation-based airdrops were there, but they are continuing today. did we get to everybody? hard to say. part of it was the ability that people were not sure where to go. what i saw with my own eyes, i went to the central portion of the mountainous regions, where some of the folks were being resilient and they are not choosing to come to the areas where food and water is. so the bottom line is i know this is one of that -- and i feel certain this is probably one of the largest unitarian dishes we have ever conducted --

humanitarian missions that we've ever conducted in the united states. the office ofked inspector general to look at how our commodities were used as some of the mayors as well, and the fbi may be looking at that as well. i appreciates: your candor. i know this was incredibly difficult task you were involved in. i appreciate your efforts on that. in this been candid hearing they come and that is refreshing, because we celebrate what we did right and learn from our mistakes to be ready for the future. what would be your assessment in puerto rico on a scale from one to 10 in your expert capacity as to fema's ability to meet the disaster. mr. long: we have a lot of work to do. i want to happen after-action. i want to figure out the grant funding that went to fema --

puerto rico. what did we get in return of that? i want to make sure the commodity capabilities are too small. how do we set up island territories to be more self-sufficient that does not require and massive mission to thina best-of-five using -- mission to fly these things -- these things in? i will come back to change the way we do business in the future. i do not to go through this event again as much as anybody else. : i asked one to 10, and that may be tough. for the average per to reagan, how would they rate the federal government's response. on a one to 10, what would they say? mr. long: with all due respect,

people have different expenses. i'm not interested in giving myself a grade. that would be the only thing that the media would pick up today. could we have done better, did we move as fast as people would want? if you cases, no, but look in "the miami herald," the state representative rivera, read his assessment and talk to the mayors, talk to the 78 mayors and get your assessment because forlease, me to sit back and say we did things perfectly, i know we did not. of course there is things i wish had gone better or things i had known going into that event obviously, but the bottom line is that i know at the end of the day we pushed as hard as we percentur partners hardly could, and we moved as fast as the situation allowed, and this was one of the most logistically complex disasters this nation has faced. you talk about

talking to local mayors, lead into a question i have. >> we are leaving at this point. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. october 31, 2017. i hereby appoint the honorable drew a. ferguson the fourth to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2017, the chair will recognize members from lists chit smithed by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. all time shall be equally allocated to the parties and in no event